My 1997 crown vic has developed a miss fire. At first it was hardly noticeable, but now it happens every time I drive the car. On acceleration the car hits all 8 cylinders then rapidly decreases to 3 to 5 cylinders. At least that is the way it seems to me. A friends said it has something to do with a spring in the transmission. Another friend told me to have the fuel filter replaced right away. I replaced the fuel filter, nothing changed. Is this related to the ECM, or is it an ignition issue. How long should the distributor cap and wires live on the 1997 version of the 4.6L motor?

please advise me on what I should ask the mechanic to do first? I am so tired of getting the run around by mechanics that seem to be replacing parts on my car that they just happened to have on hand and i still get stuck with my car not running right.

97 doesn't have a dist. It has a digital ignition system. You have 2 coil packs, each has 4 plug wires going to it. Sound like you need new spark plugs, wires, and if the problem persists, new coils, mainly a good tune up.